March 18
Friday of the Second Week of Lent
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
7:45 AM – Victims of Clergy Abuse / Anonymous
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.
One day, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem, Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them.”
So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”
When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying, “We must not take his life. Instead of shedding blood,” he continued, “just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but do not kill him outright.” His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father. So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on; then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry.
They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers: “What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
R. (5a) Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
When the LORD called down a famine on the land
and ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
They had weighed him down with fetters,
and he was bound with chains,
Till his prediction came to pas
and the word of the LORD proved him true.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
Gospel Acclamation
John 3:16
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son;
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Gospel
Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
“Remember the marvels the Lord has done.”
Reflection
Challenging to have the readings we do today, and at the same time proclaim in our Psalm Response: “Remember the marvels the Lord has done” (Ps 105). We could wonder what was going through Joseph’s mind as his own brothers sold him into slavery after first plotting to kill him. In the parable Jesus tells in our Gospel, we can easily feel regret and remorse as soon as we hear the owner of the vineyard sending his beloved son. Neither of these narratives leaves us in a place of comfort.
Maybe what is ‘marvelous’ is that through these tragedies, God’s salvation is still made known, not thwarted, but rather still accomplished. It is by way of Joseph getting to Egypt that starts the narrative of the Book of Exodus—liberation for God’s people from slavery. Joseph had dreams that allowed us to see that through him he would be a leader of importance, but how could we have trusted that God’s liberation of his people would still involve him when his brothers were so intent on making Joseph disappear forever.
We recall that as this story continues, Joseph will have an opportunity to extend mercy to his brothers, and he does. Imagine the response of his brothers upon receiving that forgiveness. Like Jesus’ parable, when God sends his Son who also is rejected and ultimately put to death, vengeance is nowhere to be seen. God extends mercy even to those who reject him. Real forgiveness, when we experience it, is divine, unprecedented, unfathomable—it’s ‘marvelous.’
May we come to know this mercy in a profound way this Lent, and may we also have the grace to extend it to those in our lives who also need it. Then remember with gratitude the marvels the Lord has done.
Peace,
Fr. Foley
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